System of and apparatus for bailing wells



Ami 8, 1924 G. C. DAVISON SYSTEM OF AND APPARATUS FOR BAILING WELLS Filed Aug. 29,

1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 A ay 8 1924 89986 G- C'. DAVISON SYSTEM OF AND APPARATUS FOR BAILING WELLS Filed Aug. 29, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 April! 8 192%, 11,489,986

G. C. DAVISON SYSTEM OF AND APPARATUS FOR BAILING WELLS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 29, 1921 Patented Apr. s, i924.

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GREGORY CALDWELL DAVISON, OF GRO'I'ON, CONNECTICUT.

SYSTEM 0' AND APPARATUS FOR BAILING WELLS.

Apnlication filed August 29, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GREGORY C. DAvrsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Groton, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Systems of and Apparatus for Bailing Wells; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art .to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The method commonly used for raising oil from the bottom of oil wells is a plunger pump of small diameter with a piston packed by cup leathers or similar means, and ball check valves are used. The wells, which are pumped, vary in depth anywhere from a few hundred feet to over 4,000 feet. The result is that for wells of athousand feet or over, the duty on the pump is very hard on account of the great lift and consequent high pressure. For instance, in a well a little over 2,000 feet, which is not at all uncommon, the pressure against which the pump works is 1,000 lbs. per square inch.

This condition of heavy pressure alone makes the duty on the pump very hard. But in addition to this there are two heavy handicaps. One of these is that a certain amount of gas collects with the oil and has a. tendency to bind the pump for a considerable portion of the time. A second handicap, even worse, is the fact that loose sand gets into the pump, cuts the pump leathers, or other packing, scores the barrel and causes other derangement, which make it necessary to pull the pump plunger or tube from time to time. It is this pulling of tubing, etc., which constitutes one of the important expenses in the production of oil.

The invention hereinafter described is intended to overcome certain of the difliculties above enumerated, and is so arranged that all mechanisms are situated near the surface easily accessible.

According to my invention I use a bailing bucket which is lowered down into the well, and after becoming filled with the liquid to be removed therefrom the bucket is hoisted nearly to the top of the well, as will be hereina fter described, where it telescopes with a receiver located at the top of the well, and discharges the contents into said receiver; the liquid contents of the bucket flowing into said receiver and thence being carried Serial No. 496,369.

away to the receiving vats, or tanks, or other points of delivery.

In order to effect the economical operation of the device, the bailers are preferably operated in pairs, like two elevators, one going up as the other goes down, or vice versa.

The bailers which are lowered to the bottom of the well are always raised and the functioning takes place near the surface. In other words, what this system amounts to is the bailer which goes to the bottom of the Well, brings up oil, and then the oil is forced out of the bailer by a pumping action at the surface, the whole operation being automatically operated, as will be hereinafter described.

My invention will be more fully understood after reference to the accompanying drawings in which like parts are indicated by similar reference symbols throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional view through two oil wells, showing a duplicate set of apparatus in which there are two bailers and two receivers connected together by a hoisting rope driven in reverse directions by a drum.

Figure 2 is a sectional view on a larger scale of the receiver enclosed in the well casing near the top thereof. I

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation showing the bailing bucket used in connection with the receiver aforesaid.

Figure 4 shows a section along the line 4t of Fig. 3, and looking down.

Figure 5 shows an arrangement for operating the reversing switch for reversing the electric motor driving the drum shown in Fig. 1; and

Figure 6 is a diagram showing the electrical connections of the reversing switch shown in Fig. 5.

A represents the well casing which may be continued down any desired or preferred distance in the usual way. Surmounting this well casing is the casing head B from which the delivery pipe Cleads. The casing head B is preferably constructed as shown in Fig. 2, in which it is shouldered, as at b, the screw threads I) engaging the screw threads a on the exterior of the easing; the result being that a continuous inner cylindrical surface is secured at the joint between the casing and .the casing head.

The casing head is also shouldered as at b to support the cylindrical receiving cage D, which is perforated as at d to register with the opening through the delivery pipe C, and is screw threaded as at d to engage the corresponding screw threads 6 on the upper end of the oil receiving tube E, which tube makes a tight joint with the flange d and the lower portion of the receiving cage D. This receiving tube E has a plurality of openings e, preferably oppositely-disposed, which open directly into the annular channel D of the receiving cage D. The upper end of the tube E is closed by the cap F, beneath which is the packing F, and this cap is secured to the casing head by means of the screws G.

H represents the hoisting cable which passes through a gland f at the upper end of the cap F, and is wound on the pulley I which is journaled on the shaft I, mounted on any suitable support, such as the standards 2 carried by the bracket B secured to or integral with the casing head. The shaft I should preferably be made readily detachable, so that the pulley may be quickly dismounted whenever desired. The cable H goes from the pulley I to a suitable winding drum J, shown in Fig. 1. In this figure I have shown two entire sets of apparatus connected to a single winding drum. the advantage of which arrangement will be hereinafter more fully de scribed.

The bottom of the receiving tube E is preferably formed of a casting E, screwed into the upper tube, and rounded outwardly near its bot-tom, as at e, and provided with a wiper ring 6 all as shown in Fig. 2. This casting E is provided at its bottom with a spider, through the hub e of which the cable H passes. The openings in this spider are closed by suitable lifting valves E which may be pivoted at e and provided with suitable packing 6 One of the valves is shown in section closed in full lines, and lifted in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

The operation of these valves is substantially similar to that of the valves shown in Fig. 4, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

K represents the bailer (see Figs. 1 and 3) which is substantially cylindrical in form, and is preferably provided at its upper end with a flared-out portion so as to be centered mOre readily over the rounded portion 6' at the bottom of the receiving tube E. This bailer is provided with suitable guides, preferably metal loops K which guide and center the bailer in the well casing. The bottom of the bailer is provided with a heavy cap K which is screw-threaded to the cylindrical shell, as at 70 and has the reinforced edges 70 at its bottom which form part of the spider. as shown in Fig. 3; the hub is of this spider being perforated to receive the end of the cable H which preferably passes through a: washer L and is held in place by a knob h as shown in Fig. 3. The openings through this spider are closed by lifting valves ItI which are pivoted as at m to the pivot collar N which forms a bearing for all of the several valves M, as shown in Fig. 4c. The pivot collar N is located on the upwardly projecting stem of the hub is and held in position by two lock nuts N and N which are threaded on to the uppermost end of the hub 70. There may be several of these collars, such as N and N the upper collars serving as lock nuts for the lower. 4

These valves M are provided with suitable packing m held in place by the bolts m which screw up into the bosses m The construction and arrangement of these valves is shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4:.

It will be seen that when the bailer K is lowered into the well and strikes oil or other liquid therein, the valves M will be lifted and the liquid will flow into the bailer, and when the bailer is raised the valves will close of their own weight and remain closed, by the weight of theliquid within the bailer. As the bailer is hoisted upwards toward the position shown to the right of Fig. 1, the flared portion k" of the bailer will slip over the rounded portion 6' of the receiving tube and the wiper ring 6 will serve both as a wiper ring and a packing ring, and the pressure on the surface of the liquid in'the upwardly rising bailer will lift the valve E and will cause the bailer to empty its contents into the tube E, from which it will overflow into the receiving cage D, and finally escape through the delivery pipe C.

It will be obvious that each round trip of the bailer will deliver a fresh supply of liquid to the delivery tube and the process of bailing will be intermittently performed so long as the bailer is raised and lowered.

In order to render the system more economical as regards the amount of power required, I prefer to couple the bailers of two wells up in pairs so that the force exerted by one bailer and its cable in descending may be exerted to help hoist the other bailer of the set in the well. This may be very readily accomplished by using a single winding drum, or a pair of winding drums on the same shaft operating in reverse' directions and driving the same by any suitable reversible motor, such, for instance, as a quick reversible electric motor. Such a system I have shown diagrammatically in Figs. 1, 5 and 6, in which P (see Fig. 1) represents an electric motor mounted on the shaft P having the drum J on which the cables H are wound, see Fig. 1. This motor may be reversed in any convenient way, either by hand or automatically as desired. Such a reversing switch is shown diagrammatically at Q, in Figure 6. I prefer toreverse the motor automatically, and to reverse the switch as each bailer rises to the upper limit of its travel as shown to the right of Fig. 1 and to the left of Fig. 5.

Such automatic reversing arrangement comprises a lever B pivoted as at r to the bracket R, projecting from the casing head B shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5. There are two of these levers, as shown in Fig. 5, one end 1' of each lever project-s into the path of the bailer as it nears the limit of 1ts upward travel, and the other end 7' of each lever is connected to the wire or cable S which passes over the guide pulleys T, see Fig. 5, and is provided with collars t and t adapted to engage the switch lever U, which makes contact in driving the motor in either direction through the contact pieces V and V. The electric connections between the motor and the reversing switch are not shown, but

which has just attained its lowest position.-

I have shown the hoisting rope from two wells connected to a single winding drum which would be the proper arrangement where the two wells are of the same depth. Where one well is deeper than the other, in order that the system may be operated satisfactorily, it may be desirable to have a winding drum of greater diameter for the hoisting rope for the shallow well than would be the diameter of the drum for the hoisting rope for the deeper well. lhe drums could be very readil made ofsizes to compensate for different epths of well. It will be seen that with the automatic construction hereinbefore described, the device will operate automatically as long as the electric motor is running.

It will be evident that the device may be applied to operate a single well only, in which case there would be no counterbalancing eflI'ect and the full power would be re-v quired in lifting the bailer; but the energy of the empty bailer and the parts connected where the bailers are used in pairs the actual weight of the bailer itself is immaterial, since the descending bailer will counterbalance the rising bailer and the only difference in weight to be lifted will be the weight of the liquid contained in the bailer. It is true that there will be slight variations in the power required for lifting, incident to each operation, dependent upon the changing length of the cable as each bucket ascends or descends; but where the wells are of the same depth, and especially where a number of wells are operated in pairs as hereinbefore described from a central power station, these variations in power, owing to the differences in the length of the cableduring the operation, will counterbalance each other.

' While I have shown a single pair of bailers, it will be obvious that a large number i of pairs may be operated from a central power station, dependent upon the conditions required.

It will be obvious that various modifications might be made in the herein described apparatus, and in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts which could be used without departing from the spirit of my invention; and I do not meanto limit the invention to such details except as particularly pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. Apparatus for bailing wells comprising a casing, a casing head mounted above said casing, a tubular receiver projecting into said casing head, a receiving cage provided with an annular chamber between said receiver and said casing head, and provided with a delivery outlet, a cylindrical bailer adapted to telescope over the bottom of said receiver, check valves opening upwards in arating it from engagement with the inner walls of the well, a hoisting cable passing through said casing head and said receiver and secured to said bailer, and means for hoisting and lowering said cable.

. 2. Apparatus for bailing wells comprising a casing, a casing head mounted above said casing, a tubular receiver projecting into said casing head and having a tapered bot- ,tom, a receiving cage provided with an annular chamber between said receiver and said casing head, and rovided with a delivery outlet, a cylindrical bailer having a flaring mouth adapted to telescope over the bottom of said receiver, check valves opening upwards in the bottoms of said bailer and said receiver, respectively, resilient fenders in the form of loop springs secured to said bailer and separating it from engagement with the inner walls of the well, a hoisting cable passing through said casing head and said receiver and secured to said bailer, and means for hoisting and lowering said cable.

3. Apparatus for bailing wells comprising a casing, a casing head mounted above said casing, a tubular receiver projecting into said casing head, a receiving cage provided with an annular chamber between said receiver and said casing head, and provided with a delivery outlet, a cylindrical bailer adapted to telescope over the bottom of said receiver, check valves opening upwards in the bottom of said bailer and said receiver, respectively, a hoisting cable passing through said casing head and axially through said receiver and also axially through said bailer, and secured to the bottom of said bailer, and means for hoisting and lowering said cable.

4. Apparatus for bailing wells comprising a casing, a casing head mounted above said casing, a receiving cage provided with an annular chamber between said receiver and said casing head, and provided with a delivery outlet, a tubular receiver projecting into said casing head and having a tapered bottom, a cylindrical bailer having a flaring mouth adapted to telescope over the bottom of said receiver, check valves opening upwards in the bottoms of said bailer and receiver, respectively, a hoisting cable passing through said casing head and axially through said receiver and also axially through said bailer, and secured to the bottom of said bailer, resilient tenders separating said bailer from the inner walls of the well, and means for hoisting and lowering said cable.

5. A system for bailing liquids from deep wells spaced apart and grouped in pairs, comprising a reciprocatingbailer in each well, means for emptying said bailer as it arrives at the top of the well, a hoisting cable connected to each bailer of the pair, a winding drum for alternately hauling on the cable connected to one bailer, while lowering on the cable connected to the other bailer, and vice versa, whereby the weight of the descending bailer is caused to assist in the lifting of the ascending bailer, and a reversible electric motor for operating said winding drum, with means alternately operated by the movement of said bailer for automatically reversing said motor.

6. A system for bailing liquids from deep Wells spaced apart and grouped in pairs, comprising a reciprocating bailer in each well, means for emptying said bailer as it arrives at the top of the well, a hoisting cable connected to each bailer of the pair, a winding drum for alternately hauling on the cable connected to one bailer, while lowering on the cable connected to the other bailer, and vice versa, whereby the weight of the descending bailer is caused to assist in the lifting of the ascending bailer, and a reversible electric motor for ,operating said winding drum, with means alternately operated by the movement of said bailer for automatically reversing said motor, said last mentioned means comprising a reversing switch for said motor, a lever at each well' having an arm projecting in the path of the ascending bailer, and aflexible connection between said levers and said reversing switch.

GREGORY CALDWELL DAVISON. 

